Let me tell you a story. Once there was a queen, and she had a very beautiful necklace. One day, after her bath, she was on the balcony drying her hair. She took her necklace off and put it on a hook. A crow was flying by, saw the necklace shining in the sun, and flew off with it. But the crow dropped it in a tree, and it got caught on one of the branches

Beneath the tree was a filthy dirty river. Now, when the queen reached for her necklace and found it missing, she threw a tantrum. “Who stole it?” She had everybody searching for it. Nobody could find it. She said to the king, “If I don’t find my necklace, I’m never going to eat again.” The king was very concerned and sent all his army and others looking for it— but nobody could find it. So the king finally made an announcement. “Whoever finds the necklace gets half of my kingdom.” Then people started seriously looking

One day, a general walked by the tree and saw the necklace in the river below it. He immediately jumped into the sewage— filled river because he wanted half the kingdom. The minister saw the general jumping in, and he, too, saw the necklace, and jumped in. The king saw his general and his minister looking for it, jumped in, and now all three were fishing for it. By then, more soldiers and the villagers had come, and they all jumped in

Finally, somebody with a little wisdom said, “What are you doing? The necklace is not down there; it is up there. You’re jumping after the reflection.” And so the king said, “Since you found it, half of the kingdom is yours.” And the wise man said, “I don’t need your kingdom. You keep it.”

Why did I tell this story? Because that’s what we do, too. We just see the reflection of peace. It’s nice when there are not wars, but that’s a reflection of peace— that’s not peace in itself. Peace begins with every single human being on the face of this earth. That’s the necklace. Everything else is a reflection.